"...the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology. ... The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. ... As yet there is only one country which has succeeded in creating this politician’s paradise.” - Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society, 1960.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

CIA Infiltration of Pacifica Radio Update

Re infiltration of Pacifica's Los Angeles affiliate, KPFK, primarily, by Pat Scott (a source of much of the strife at Pacifica, 1995-99), Ian Masters, Dave Adelson, Larry Bensky (Paris Review/CIA), Jon Weiner (made his reputation with a grossly obvious, widely-publicized limited hang-out on the CIA murder of Beatle John Lennon), Marc Cooper (scarce at Pacifica these days because he's been outed as a mole at KPFK, so he's moved on to NPR, pollutes the LA Weekly, The Nation, and other compromised "news" ((opinion-formation)) scams with droll cover-ups of CIA crimes and smears of left-wing ((or "Trotskyite")) activists) and a secret team of supporting players, with an internal perspective on board politics ...

" ...PNB [Pacifica National Board] members Grace Aaron, Shawn O'Brien, KPFK LSB member Chris Bayard Condon (recently seated on the LSB after KPFK LSB member Don White's death) and KPFK programmer Ian Masters would prefer key PNB board member Joe Wanzala remain ignorant. ... I'm sure at this point that KPFA listeners reading this far into my monologue are scratching their heads wondering, 'I don't get it, I thought Larry Bensky was a good guy at Pacifica?.' Well, kiddies, have you ever been conned before ... What most listeners in the network outside of LA are not aware of is that Dave Adelson's effort to 'rescue' Pacifica from the Pat Scott junta of '95-'99 essentially put the control of Pacifica back into the same political hands in Los Angeles that had been on board with Pat Scott's operation to begin with. ... "

Masters and Bensky are veteran Pacifica programmers and ethnic cleansers of "conspiracy" data. Masters often complains on-air that he is accused by fellow KPFK employees of being "CIA agent," and is constantly fending off accusations of propagandizing his audience with sneering, condescending disdain. Masters is an avid supporter of Gerald Posner and a soft parade of media moles, but despises all "conspiracy theorists," whom he flatly disregards as gibbering "LaRouchies."

Bensky, a fixture at KPFA in Berkeley, inarguably the "Voice of Pacifica" if there is one, hails from the Paris Review at the time the literary-political journal was a busy Cold War CIA propaganda front geared to academics (scroll to part five of the Duncan-Blake series, concerning the Paris Review).

Former President and newly anointed Pacifica "progressive", Jimmy Carter, will be the guest today on Maria Armoudian's "The Insighters", KPFK @4pm (http://kpfk.org/programs/89-four-oclock-thursdays-with-maria-armoudian.html). Yeah, I know all about how hard Carter has worked to create a peaceful solution to the "Palestinian problem" in greater Israel, and he is sounding so progressive these days. But I'm not writing about that issue here.

Knowing Carter's record regarding the CIA's operations in El Salvador from '77 - '80, KPFK's Blase Bonpane (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/36-world-focus.html) should be pleased our former "progressive" President will be gracing KPFK's airwaves. If only Don White were still alive to hear Maria's interview of Carter (http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=411&Itemid=75). Too bad Maria's show is not a must carry program on all five signal areas, right Blase? Well, Blase, if you keep supporting Grace Aaron, Shawn O'Brien (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/40-access-unlimited.html) and their cronies, you'll get your wish as I'm sure Armoudian's program may actually be a contender for Grace's secret Pacifica national programming project after Ian Masters, Sonali Kolhatkar (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/152-uprising.html) and Jon Wiener (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/88-four-oclock-wednesdays-with-jon-wiener.html).

For those around the network that are not aware, Maria Armoudian was a top legislative aide for CA State Senator Scott Wildman (Burbank) in 1999 and was a key person at Wildman's office which facillitated Pacifica 'hero', Dave Adelson's key testimony at Wildman's state hearings regarding Pacifica's previous crisis. This helped greatly during the political battle to solidify Pacifica listener support for Adelson's suit against Pacifica's National Board in 1999. I believe Armoudian was later rewarded for her political assistance to those behind Dave Adelson's "rescue" of Pacifica with her own program on KPFK.

I'd wager newly seated PNB member Joe Wanzala and lockstep ally of Grace Aaron's current liberal Democratic Party connected junta on Pacifica's national board was not aware of this fact. Certainly, KPFK LSB member Christopher Bayard Condon did not educate Joe of this (and many other facts) when Joe was staying at Condon's beautiful modern art piece of a house in Los Angeles during the recent PNB Meeting.

Chris Condon (as he is known to his 'friends', has made a little-known behind the scenes deal with Grace and KPFK GM Sean Heitkemper to add Codon's program dealing with 9/11 truth research, "Counter-Intelligence Digest" to KPFK's roster of shows, in exchange for Condon's political support and silence regarding his critique of his old friend KPFK programmer Ian Masters' government intelligence propaganda outlet, "Background Briefing" (Note: I prefer to call the show, "Backdoor Greasing"). For the record, I'm in support of Condon's program being added to KPFK's lineup, but not because of a political deal to support Ian Masters to Pacifica national status or in exhange for silence about Masters' carrying water for US foreign policy objectives over Pacifica air.

But then Joe Wanzala doesn't have enough accurate background to really understand Pacifica's history in Los Angeles nor the real nature of what he has politically invested in. PNB members Grace Aaron, Shawn O'Brien, KPFK LSB member Chris Bayard Condon (recently seated on the LSB after KPFK LSB member Don White's death) and KPFK programmer Ian Masters would prefer key PNB board member Joe Wanzala remain ignorant, now that they've secured the support and allegiance of one of the more historically and politically astute Pacifica listener-sponsors in the network.

Liberal Santa Monica attorney and KPFK program host for Friday's "Morning Review", Roy Ulrich (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/129-morningreviewfridaywroyulrich.html), previously co-hosted with Maria Armoudian when she originally became a KPFK programmer. Ulrich often deals with issues all of us would agree with but he is essentially a Democratic Party mouthpiece who hangs out with people like Jodie Evans (Code Pink and campaign manager for Jerry Brown's '92 Presidential campaign), Arianna Huffington, The Nation magazine crowd as as do many of Grace Aaron's ADA friends inside and outside the station.

Roy Ulrich is a major behind the scenes player at KPFK and local politics. Ulrich like many associated with Grace Aaron's Pacifica putsch is a staunch supporter of KPFK programmer Ian Masters' KPFK program, "Background Briefing". (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/48-background-briefing-with-ian-masters.html, http://www.ianmasters.org/) as was former KPFK General Manager Mark Schubb who proudly proclaimed Masters was his favorite KPFK programmer during fundrives when Schubb would come on Ian's show to pitch. For those that don't go far enough back to Pacifica's previous crisis, KPFK GM Schubb performed 'admirably' for Pat Scott, Lynn Chadwick & the CPB during the previous Pacifica crisis and the push for more politically centrist and mainstream programming in Pacifica. KPFK's Roy Ulrich is connected to the circles in LA and KPFK that are backing Grace Aaron & Shawn O'Brien's operation on Pacifica's national board totransform the network essentially into a national version of KPFK's programming focus.

When former KPFK GM Mark Schubb was finally fired after the previous Pacifica crisis out of court settlement, he filed suit for wrongful termination and instead of fighting him in court, Pacifica paid Schubb a settlement fee I heard was close to or over $200,000. Maybe someone on the list (like Schubb's long time defender, Nalini) knows the exact amount. In any case, I'm sure Schubb is doing ok financially from his reward for service rendered to the mainstreaming of KPFK's content during the Pat Scott Pacifica regime.

What many current listeners and board members don't understand is that those connected to the political circles in Los Angeles and KPFK programmers and staff who are supporting Grace Aaron's takeover of the PNB are exactly the same group of political folks who supported Pat Scott's operation to mainstream Pacifica's programming.

But most importantly and not surprisingly, this crowd (with the sole exception of the ADA's Tom Camarella who with me and other members of the Pacifica Accountability Committee, forged a proposal for new bylaws in '97 to mandate elected LSBs) never raised a finger to help the freepacifica movement in LA resist the Pat Scott operation at KPFK.

Other KPFK programmers closely associated with Pat Scott's operation at KPFK were Marc Cooper of The Nation Institute's and KPFK's "Radio Nation" carried on 4 of the five stations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Cooper), phony "progressive", Governor Jerry Brown and his Pacifica program, "We the People" was carried on four of the five Pacifica stations and was instrumental in vaulting Brown into the Oakland Mayor's office.

Former Governor Jerry Brown's Pacifica program especially is evidence of Pacifica radio serving mainstream so-called "liberal" (read: fasicist) Democratic Party operatives. This was clearly brought home to me when at the freepacifica rally at Berkeley Community Park in April, 1999, when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and his entourage was invited up on-stage after Pacifica's so-called "hero" Nicole Sawaya praised the freepacifica movement to (put Pacifica back in the very hands of those who seek to de-radicalize it - my words).

More KPFK supporters of the Pat Scott operation at Pacifica included:Jon Wiener, liberal "progressive" UC Irvine professor and Nation magazine writer/editor (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/88-four-oclock-wednesdays-with-jon-wiener.html), Suzi Weissman (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/50-beneath-the-surface-with-suzi-weissman.html), Barbara Osborn (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/73-deadline-la-with-barbara-osborn-a-howard-blume.html), and others I refer to in this brief expose of the dirty liberal Democratic Party underbelly of Pacifica's Los Angeles political quagmire.

The result of Pat Scott and friends (who include former PNB member Rob Robinson at WPFW in Washington DC - now working closely with PNB member Grace Aaron on her New Pacifica Radio national programming project) was a wholesale purge of over 300 programs in the network under the rationalization it would bring in more listeners and more contributions. Does this sound vaguely familiar to what's happening now?.

These liberal Democratic Party folks are very much connected to the Southern California chapter of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), a national organization originally started by Eleanor Rosevelt, the Southern California chapter of which was founded by Ralph Fertig (http://sowkweb.usc.edu/people/details.php?pg=119, http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=942).

What most listeners in the network outside of LA are not aware of is that Dave Adelson's effort to 'rescue' Pacifica from the Pat Scott junta of '95-'99 essentially put the control of Pacifica back into the same political hands in Los Angeles that had been on board with Pat Scott's operation to begin with. I'm taking specifically about the ADA's political circles. This was most evident when Adelson's first pick to be his ally on the KPFK Local Advisory Board and then voted to the PNB was none other than Ralph Fertig's attorney son, Dave Fertig. This was at the critical period leading up to the Nov, 2001 Pacifica settlement leading to the difficult period of crafting new bylaws for Pacifica which included elected local boards (something Adelson never intended in his very limited "LAB lawsuit").

Another part of this political faction is KPFK programmer Terry McNally (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/101-freeforum.html) who was originally given his KPFK program slot for McNally's "Free Forum" by then GM Mark Schubb. It was no surprise at the time that Schubb's closest political buddy Jim Horwitz was McNally's co-producer and original co-host (until Terry realized Horwitz had no radio skills other than running behind-the scenes-dirty tricks for Schubb). For those not aware, former GM Mark Schubb and volunteer Jim Horwitz ran the short lived Los Angeles office of FAIR. So, it was no surprise that FAIR's "Counterspin" became a favored show at KPFK and was carried throughout the network.

One of KPFK's (and therfore Pacifica's) biggest outrages was the KPFK sponsored and live-broadcast forum held in 1999 on the US war on Serbia and Kosovo at the Los Angeles Leo Beck Temple. This forum was a huge event during a critical time many Democratic Party liberals were backing President Clinton's bombing of Servia and Kosovo under NATO "authority".

The forum was moderated (and dominated) by The Nation's Marc Cooper with help from The Nation's Ian Williams who hailed the bombing campaign as a necessary policy to stop ethnic cleansing and genocide perpetrated by Milosevic's regime and its military operations. At the time, Grace Aaron (and Nalini Lasiewicz (who helped organize the forum) was very committed to supporting Clinton's policy as a necessary response to the genocide and ethnic cleansing occuring in the former Yugoslavia.

On the face of the issue, especially for someone like Grace Aaron, who's sources were at the time almost completely from mainstream news such as the LA Times, Time, Newsweek and even the CIA operated Radio Free Europe, Serbia's ethnic cleansing and genocide was certainly enough justification for Grace to agree with the necessity for the US to once again use its cruise missles and airpower to 'establish democracy' in the former Yugoslavia. Contrary to statements she made at the recent PNB Meeting in Los Angeles, Grace Aaron was privately defending the US military campaign in Serbia and Kosovo to her friends and political contacts. More about Grace's actual record on this issue will be forthcoming to Pacifica's listenership shortly.

One thing that Grace and most KPFK listeners are not aware of. Then LA Times columnist Bob Scheer was one of the speakers at the KPFK broadcast forum on Kosovo, but as soon as he stated his opposition to Clinton's bombing campaign in Serbia, the audio feed from Leo Beck temple was cut only to be replaced by pre-recorded music in less than 5 seconds, thereby silencing the area's most vociferous opponent to US policy on the matter. It was clear to me and those listening to KPFK that the "technical difficulties" as characterized later during a LAB meeting by the pathological liar Mark Schubb were too convenient to be an accident when the signal 'mysteriously' repaired itself as the next speaker at the forum was being introduced to the stage. This Pacifica listeners, is the political reality of the politics surrounding KPFK in Los Angeles, and it is these politics the current takeover of the network has been hatched and is being managed from.

The most powerful programmers at KPFK and their supporters in Los Angeles' mainstream liberal Democratic Party connected political force are backing Grace Aaron's makeover/takeover of Pacifica and her soon to come grant funded and underwritten national programming project (conceived by her and former PNB member Rob Robinson at WPFW - who was also behind Pat Scott's original operation).

Grace Aaron's transformation of Pacifica into essentially a national clone of KPFK is about to be launched under the rubric (or cover) of the recently suppressed Pacifica General Manager's Report to the PNB. Only those who live in KPFK's signal area seem to cognizant that Ian Masters' 2-hour KPFK program, "Background Briefing" is most probably this political faction's #1 pick for the New Pacifica Radio (NPR) lineup.

Along with KPFK host Lila Garrett (http://www.kpfk.org/programs/67-connect-the-dots-with-lila-garrett.html), Maria Armoudian is just one small part of the Democratic Party connected folks who are now in the drivers' seat to transform the entire Pacifica network into a mouthpiece for primarily liberal so-called "progressive" politics that essentially support US policy regarding the ongoing "war on terror", deployment of US military operations for so-called "humanitarian" purposes, CIA covert wars and regime change covert operations, pooh poohing 9/11 truth efforts and research, weak-kneed Obama critics, compromised resistance to the Patriot Act and Homeland Security plans a la the ACLU, and much more. Many of these people are very nice and in spite of their political naivete or ignorance, believe they are helping to transform Pacifica into a more effective outlet for progressive social and political causes in the US. The actual reality of the potential of this network in that regard is negligible.

These Democratic Party oriented political folks in So CA all essentially have their "progressive" credentials in order, they are all very nice people, and many have been involved with a lot of worthy causes. However, when it comes to US foreign policy and effective resistance to sophisticated US intelligence spawned propaganda operations and psyops, KPFK's ADA favored programmers that are backing Grace Aaron's takeover of this network's direction have very little to offer in resistance to what real progressives are facing.

I'm sure at this point that KPFA listeners reading this far into my monologue are scratching their heads wondering, "I don't get it, I thought Larry Bensky was a good guy at Pacifica?". Well, kiddies, have you ever been conned before? That's exactly what happened at KPFA ten years ago or so, and it's happening again. Those associated with the now near total ADA domination of KPFK and Pacifica through PNB member Grace Aaron and Shawn Casey O'Brien are directly connected politically to the Bensky/Muldari circle of influence in Berkeley.

This Thursday, President Jimmy Carter will join us on KPFK's 4 PM TheInsighters. I hope you will tune in to hear him talk about achieving peace in the Middle East and other important issues.

We're also offering the interview as one of our fund drive "thank you"gifts. So please listen during the 4 PM hour on Thursday and please also call in to pledge your support for KPFK.Many thanks to you for all you do.Best wishes,

1 comment:

Very interesting, indeed. Where is this article from? I'm assuming your comments end with "-AC", so what is all the writing below that?

I used to assume that the Pacifica anti-war crowd all understood that one of the primary factors that contributes to the continuation of the War Machine and the suppression of a Mass Movement was the two-party system, backed by the same Corporate sponsors. So to see these seemingly bright, articulate activists/board members/hosts/ at Pacifica have affiliations with mainstream Democratic Party (under the guise of pulling the beast into a "Progressive" direction) is disgusting. In fact, the Beast is pulling Pacifica into the fold of the war machine.

Yes, Ian Masters is the WORST. If I wanted to here pro-"War on Terror" criticisms lofted at the Bush and now Obama administrations, I'd attend an ROTC meeting. What an obvious CIA mockingbird Masters is.